Health Minister Simeon Brown – ranked sixth in the Mood of the Boardroom survey of the performance of our politicians – trumpeted good news today.
RNZ dutifully reported these glad tidings to its audience, then turned to Rob Campbell for comment.
Campbell used to be a bigwig at Health New Zealand’s before being sacked under Labour for a political attack he made about the National Party’s Three Waters policy.
Campbell doesn’t think much of Brown’s announcement that:
Health New Zealand will deliver an additional 75,000 diagnostic procedures this year through its $65 million Diagnostic Improvement Plan, aimed at reducing wait times for critical diagnostic procedures such as MRI scans, colonoscopies, and colposcopies.
According to Brown, approximately 40,000 New Zealanders are waiting longer than they should for the tests they need.
“Long waits not only cause stress and anxiety for patients and their families, they also delay the start of treatment and put extra pressure on our hospitals,” Mr Brown says.
“This investment will expand access and reduce wait times so people can get answers sooner, doctors can diagnose problems earlier, and patients can begin the right treatment without delay. For many, getting the right test at the right time will be life-changing.”
A serious shortage of staff also is delaying the start of treatment and putting extra pressure on hospitals, of course.
But one thing at a time, eh?
Over the next year, the programme will deliver 74,950 additional procedures through both public and private providers, including:
Campbell doesn’t think much of Brown’s announcement that:
Health New Zealand will deliver an additional 75,000 diagnostic procedures this year through its $65 million Diagnostic Improvement Plan, aimed at reducing wait times for critical diagnostic procedures such as MRI scans, colonoscopies, and colposcopies.
According to Brown, approximately 40,000 New Zealanders are waiting longer than they should for the tests they need.
“Long waits not only cause stress and anxiety for patients and their families, they also delay the start of treatment and put extra pressure on our hospitals,” Mr Brown says.
“This investment will expand access and reduce wait times so people can get answers sooner, doctors can diagnose problems earlier, and patients can begin the right treatment without delay. For many, getting the right test at the right time will be life-changing.”
A serious shortage of staff also is delaying the start of treatment and putting extra pressure on hospitals, of course.
But one thing at a time, eh?
Over the next year, the programme will deliver 74,950 additional procedures through both public and private providers, including:
- 64,000 radiology procedures
- 7100 colonoscopies
- 2200 cardiac tests
- 1650 colposcopies
“This initiative is being supported by targeted workforce growth, with work underway to expand training places in radiology and echo-sonography, ensuring we can meet future demand.”
This tells us more staff will be needed to deliver the tests.
Then – fingers crossed – patients won’t have to wait too long for treatment..
Brown declared:
“Until now, patients would be on a waitlist to see a hospital specialist before even getting on the list for a scan. By significantly increasing the number of diagnostic procedures, patients referred directly by their GP will not only bypass the specialist wait but also face shorter waits for the scan itself.
“By boosting capacity and widening referral pathways, we are cutting out double-handling, reducing delays, and ensuring patients get the right diagnosis and treatment sooner.
“It will also free up hospital specialists to focus on first specialist assessments and elective surgeries while reducing pressure on our emergency departments, which will help deliver on the Government’s health targets.
“This is about putting patients first. Our focus is on making sure New Zealanders get access to the tests they need, when they need them, so they can get the answers and treatment they need, faster. I’ve also asked Health New Zealand to work with the APEX union to ensure this programme is successfully delivered,” Mr Brown says.
Rob Campbell dismissed the announcement as an attempt to divert attention from the bigger problems dogging the public health system.
He told Midday Report “efficiencies” were likely to come from underspending, due to workforce shortages.
“It’s a good priority, but the announcement from the Minister is really just fluff and diversion from all the bad news flowing out of health and the strikes currently taking place from many senior staff.
“And this is not new money. The Minister’s own announcement makes it clear that this money that’s been saved or results from efficiencies elsewhere in the service.”
Campbell said it was good that the money would be spent on diagnostic services, but he challenged the idea it was a new initiative.
He was also sceptical there would be the workforce available to do the extra work, given the tremendous pressures on both the public and private sectors.
“You can’t just suddenly produce the workforce out of nowhere.”
That’s a key consideration.
Assuming a patient benefits from getting an earlier-than-before diagnosis – what then?
Healthcare waiting times in New Zealand have been increasing, especially for planned care like specialist assessments and elective surgery
Wait times to see a GP are a significant issue, too.
A poll in April found that one-third of New Zealanders reported waiting more than two weeks to see a GP.
Several factors contribute to the wait time challenges besides the significant shortage of health professionals
- Increased demand: An aging population and deferred care from the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increased demand for specialist and elective services.
- Budgetary constraints: Under-investment in public healthcare has corroded the system’s ability to keep up with demand and hire sufficient staff.
- Capacity issues: Overcrowded emergency departments and delays in transferring patients to wards create bottlenecks that ripple throughout the system, leading to longer wait times in all areas.
He told PoO he has been on the waiting list for a hip replacement for around 550 days.
A few weeks ago the orthopaedic team at Kew Hospital informed him the waiting time for a hip replacement had been extended to between 700 and 800 days.
An x-ray taken in December last year had showed an increased deterioration from the previous x-ray and was showing bone-on-bone contact – but that’s not enough to warrant immediate surgery.
He has limited mobility.
But he knows of others who are worse off: a couple of people who cannot get around without the assistance of a wheelchair are still waiting for surgery.
He can’t afford the $50,000 or so that would enable him to have the surgery done privately, but he has been told by the surgical team that because his past medical history requires him to go directly to intensive care after surgery he would not be a candidate for private surgery.
“I suppose that leaves me with nothing else but to grin and bear it and get on with life and hope and pray it doesn’t get too bad in the meantime,” he told PoO.
He is especially aggrieved that he no longer can participate in many of the activities that he enjoys – such as working behind the scenes with the local musical theatre company, because he can’t walk far without a Zimmer frame or a walking stick. And he can no longer maintain the garden and keep his section tidy.
As she put it wryly: “Life’s a bitch when you get old.”
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
I heard a story about a gentleman who needed a heart valve replacement. He had to wait IN Waikato hospital for 9 weeks to get the operation. He was told if he went home, to wait, he would go back to the bottom of the list. Unbelievable. How could that bed have been used better?
Bob is excessive whinging also a sign of old age?
It would be nice if Brown could wave a magic wand and fix the disaster he inherited from the self enriching h Clark advised Ardern.
But the health service is a huge beast, with senior doctors who discourage junior doctors from working efficiently because it would cause less patients to move to the much more lucrative private health system.
So Brown must eat the elephant one bite at a time, which our nations ceos judged he is doing quite well!
Better to focus your criticism on a minister who can fix nzs largest, enduring, Kiwi battler robbing, big business price collusion problem with a stroke of the legislative pen....
the dim and dishonest Willis.
This is nothing but corporate socialism from a party that is all out of ideas. We saw it with the landlords, we saw it with the tobacco companies, and now we’ve got more handouts for for-profit healthcare corporations. At least you can’t say it is surprising.
Post a Comment